Today on the show we feature an interview with Kelly Smith, a Democrat running for House District 89 in Madison, Laurel, and Jackson counties. She talked really passionately about her progressive campaign that is taking on a tough district!

Before that, Jazmin updates us about Sen. Alvarado's new tort reform bills, and how they compliment his efforts from last year, which were thrown out in district court (but are still under appeal). Then, Robert updates us about two bills that are making their way through the legislature.

The second half of this show is an interview with Denise Gray, a Democratic candidate for the 28th Senate District in Clark, Fayette, and Montgomery counties. We talked about why she's running and what she hopes to accomplish in Frankfort. She talked at length about her experience as an educator and what she will bring to the job of legislating.

Before that, Jazmin and Robert talk a bit about the primary election -- the filing deadline was last week, and KREF updated the fundraising database last week as well. We talked about what we learned with that data, and also update about the pace of legislation in the general assembly. Then, we update some very old news stories with recent updates: an update about the adoption czar and about Matt Bevin's house. Enjoy the show!

This week, we have an interview with Stefanie Kingsley, the only Democratic candidate for the House seat in District 82, which encompasses all of Whitley County and part of Laurel County in southeastern Kentucky. We discussed why Ms. Kingsley decided to get into the race, and what she hopes to accomplish if she gets elected. Plus, we talk about the long-term Republican history of this part of the state, and what Ms. Kinglsey will do to try to get this area to elect a Democrat. Jazmin and Robert were both busy this week, so they recorded this interview last week. The content train must remain on track!

On today's pod, Jazmin and Robert speak with Josie Raymond, a candidate for Kentucky's 31st House District (in Metro Louisville). She spoke to us about why she's running, what running for office is like as a mother of young children, and the importance of legislators to organize their communities.

Before that, Jazmin and Robert talk about Andy Beshear's new lawsuit suing opioid distributors for flooding Kentucky with pills, a different lawsuit against the Trump administration about Kentucky's Medicaid waiver, and the school shooting tragedy in Marshall County.

This podcast features an interview with Josh Mers, a candidate for Kentucky House District 88. Our conversation with him begins around 24:30. Before that, Jazmin and Robert talk through the Trump administration's approval of the Medicaid waiver, the Governor's budget address and request, and then Jazmin talks us through "Marsy's Law" and her issues with the legislation.

This week, Jazmin and Robert attempt to do an update of the bills that are making their way through the legislature (there aren't very many), and update us all regarding the ongoing saga of Jeff Hoover, who resigned his Speakership fully this week. Then, the duo talks about the nine (!) Democratic House members retiring this year.

The General Assembly has started! The first ten minutes of this show recap the start to the session, and Jeff Hoover playing House of Cards. The rest of the episode is an interview with Cherlynn Stevenson, one of the Democrats running for the 88th District House seat in Southeast Fayette County. She talked to us about her motivations for running, how she would represent the district, and the issues about which she cares the most. It was a nice discussion!

We've got four topics for you today: first, the fallout from the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting's story on Dan Johnson and his subsequent suicide, then an update on the status of the ACLU's lawsuit regarding Governor Bevin's blocking habits on social media, followed by some confusion as to whether or not Jeff Hoover is actually still the Speaker of the House, and then finally, we discuss the current year's budget shortfall, the fallout from that, and it's implications for next year's budget. Plus, as always, Quick Hits!

With the session coming quickly, this week we bring you a short episode about how the Budget Process works in Kentucky! We originally recorded a longer episode with a section about Rep. Dan Johnson, but in light of his apparent suicide, we cut that section.